The present invention relates to a protective sheath for use with hypodermic needles before, during and after medical and similar uses. More particularly, the invention relates to a protective sheath that keeps a hypodermic needle sterile prior to use, protects medical personnel while utilizing the needle and serves to decommission and encapsulate the needle after use.
Incidences of injury and the spread of infection and contamination from inadvertent punctures or "sticks" by hypodermic needles are a source of increasing concern in hospitals, physician's offices and other facilities which require medical personnel to handle and dispose of hypodermic needles after they have been used on a patient. Additionally, the appearance of medical waste and particularly "sharps" such as hypodermic needles in areas not approved for disposal or, more importantly, public areas such as beaches and parks where disposal is not permitted, has lead to new environmental regulations governing the disposal of medical waste. The concern for infection of medical personnel and the spread of life-threatening diseases such as viral hepatitis and acquired immunity deficiency syndrome (AIDS) are forcing manufacturers of medical supplies to seek out new forms of protection and disposal to minimize the hazards arising from such waste.
Hypodermic needles pose a special hazard for medical personnel because they are used quite frequently, often in emergency situations where time is critical and care in handling is pre-empted by the exigencies of the situation. Additionally, hypodermic needles are generally supplied with a sheath covering the needle and re-sheathing the needle after use poses a moderate risk of puncture since the sheath has a generally narrow opening and fingers holding the sheath are generally located immediately adjacent the opening. The problem with inadvertent punctures has lead some hospitals to establish regulations that prohibit medical personnel from re-sheathing needles after use. Of course, the consequence of such regulations is exposed, contaminated needles in the medical waste.
Still further problems that arise from hypodermic needles are the pilferage of medical waste by I.V. drug users and the infection that may arise from repeated use of the needles by different users. If the needles were decommissioned after use by authorized facilities, the spread of disease and contamination from pilfered hypodermic needles would be greatly reduced.
The problems discussed above are well known and have been addressed in varying degrees by the prior art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,610,667, 4,740,204 and 4,799,927 disclose safety caps or sheaths for enveloping hypodermic needles both before and after use. The caps or sheaths as disclosed in these patents are provided with funnel-shaped mouths or guards which guide the hypodermic needle into the sheath and protect the fingers from inadvertent punctures during the process.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,847,995, 3,134,380, 4,725,267 and 4,735,618 disclose hypodermic needles having protective sheaths that cover the hypodermic needle before and after use and collapse during use to permit the injection or extraction of fluids in the body.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,332,323 and 4,804,370 both disclose devices for destruction of a hypodermic needle after use. The earlier patent also mentions that a prior art technique for destroying a hypodermic needle includes bending the needle with a protective cap so that the needle can not be again re-used.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a protective sheath which may be used in conjunction with a hypodermic needle to overcome the problems discussed above.